We can hope for competitions sake you are right sooner rather than my pessimistic later.
My thinking is that the women are a decade behind the men in demonstrating their true potential in the marathon.
Paula’s record lasted so long, not because it was untouchable, but because of a lack of depth and critical mass, and the aggressiveness and will required to even attempt a record until Mary Keitany tried some 14 years later.
For example, Boston 2014 was a rare exception to women’s marathon racing, where Shalane took it out fast from the gun, and 7 women were still together around 25-30K below course record pace.
On the men’s side, starting from Tergat’s sub-2:05, Geb was the one who started a decade of bringing the marathon record down, before the race transformed from end of career track runners to young runners skipping the track.
Armed with (or is it “feet-ed with”?) new shoes and confidence, the era for women realizing their same potential is still to come.